Recovery of illegal weapons a must before elections

The 13th National Parliament Election is ahead. The schedule may be announced within a month.

As political parties are waiting to participate in this much-awaited election, the people of the country are waiting for the same.

But in the meantime, the spread of terrorism across the country has become a cause of great concern among the public.

According media reports, incidents of murder, terrorism, robbery, snatching, looting, kidnapping, and extortion have increased across the country.

As election time approaches, incidents of political terrorism are increasing in tandem with ordinary crimes. In addition, incidents of conflict are also becoming more widespread.

Meanwhile, at least 11 people have been killed in election-related or political incidents.

Therefore, there is a sense of apprehension among people about how fragile the law and order situation could be ahead of the elections. Earlier, there were also many incidents of conflict and violence in both national and local elections.

Media reports say the ousted Awami League government issued a large number of firearms licenses.

In addition, many weapons were looted from law enforcement agencies during the mass uprising. A large portion of these have not yet been recovered.

Media reports further indicate that a large number of firearms are entering the country through various borders.

There have also been reports of firearms being manufactured locally. Overall, there is a risk that the situation will worsen before the upcoming elections.

Ijazul Islam, Executive Director of the human rights organization –Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) – on Tuesday said that at least 10 people were killed in at least 64 incidents of political violence in October and 513 injured.

BNP’s potential parliamentary candidate Ershad Ullah was shot on Wednesday evening during a public meeting in Chattogram city, just two days after the BNP announced its list of potential candidates. One person was killed and four others were injured in the shooting.

According to a report by the human rights organization Mandhaka Sanskriti Foundation (MSF), both political and non-political conflicts and violence are increasing rapidly.

The number of unidentified bodies recovered in October has increased slightly compared to September. People’s concerns are also increasing due to the related reasons.

The interim government must consider the issue of public safety with utmost importance and take necessary steps in this regard. Joint operations to recover illegal firearms across the country must be further strengthened.

We must ensure that no weapons enter the country through the border. We want the next election to be peaceful and festive.